How to Live a Holy Life VIII: It’s One or the Other, Not Both

In Matthew 5:24, Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.” “He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters,” Jesus remarked in Matthew 12:30. You’re either with Him or against Him. There is no middle ground.

“Do not be deceived,” Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 15:33, “‘Bad company corrupts good morals.’”  As Christians, we are not to flirt with the devil.  We are to be the salt and light of the world and we are to display the fruits of the spirit if we are saved.  But Paul also tells us in 1 Corinthians 10:21:  ”You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.”

Make no mistake here.  Paul specifically warns Christians that we run the risk of having others extinguish our light if we hang around the wrong crowd.  Church is a great place of fellowship for like-minded believers and also helps to prop-up Christians struggling in their personal lives and in their faith. Does that mean we shouldn’t reach out to the lost and share the good news of Jesus’ triumph over death? Absolutely not. In fact, Paul specifically addressed this in 1 Corinthians 5:9-13 when he said:

I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people; I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolators, for then you would have to go out of the world.  But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler — not even to eat with such a one.  For what have I to do with judging outsiders?  Do you not judge those who are within the church?  But those who are outside, God judges.  Remove the wicked man from among yourselves.

Paul discusses this topic further in 2 Corinthians 6:14:  ”Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness?”  We are not of this world, and we should not be bound with unbelievers.  I believe the word “bound” here means marriage, and I make that conclusion based on 1 Corinthians 7:39, when Paul discusses a wife being bound to her husband for as long as he is alive.

Even in 1 Peter 2:12, as Christians we are to maintain “behavior excellent among the Gentiles…”  As Christians, we are already hated by the world.  We’re seen as judgmental and intolerant of other beliefs.  Instead of joining the rest of the world in acceptance and understanding of sins, we stand firmly with the absolute truth of the Bible and refuse to compromise.  But we’re not of this world and this is not our home.  We have a permanent residence in the kingdom of heaven.

So who are you going to serve today?  The God of the Bible that created all things visible and invisible or something else?  Are you still skating by with those sins you still haven’t turned over to the Lord?  Are you going to be lukewarm when it comes to Jesus or are you going to be on fire for the Lord, choosing to follow Him and spread His good news of eternal salvation through Jesus Christ?  Don’t be lukewarm for Christ.  God would rather you be hot or cold than lukewarm.  It’s in Revelation 3:15-16.  Go look it up.